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“Sleep,” I whisper against her hair. “We’ll be right here when you wake up.”
And as she falls into peaceful sleep surrounded by all three of us, her body soft against mine, it strikes me with a bone-deep certainty that this is exactly where she belongs.
With us.
Always with us.
52
MAEVE
When I wake up, Hayden is watching me.
I stretch slowly, my eyelids falling shut as I luxuriate in the sweet ache that radiates throughout my entire body—a vivid reminder of everything that the men did to me last night. When I crack open my eyes again, Hayden is wearing an amused, fond expression that I never would have expected to see on his face just a couple of months ago. He reaches out, stroking his fingertips lightly along the curve of my jaw.
“How are you feeling?” he murmurs, his voice a bit rough from sleep.
“Much better,” I admit, and it’s true. “Last night really helped.”
He makes a soft growling sound at that, like it’s involuntary, and leans in to kiss me with a combination of softness and possessiveness that makes my heart trip in my chest.
“Does this mean you’ll tell us what had you so upset last night?” he asks when we separate, pulling back just enough to study my face.
I feel Ford and Gabriel stirring on either side of me, gradually waking from our voices. I prop myself up a little more against the pillows. “It’s nothing, really.”
“It wasn’t nothing.” Hayden frowns. “You didn’t see yourself when you came home. You wouldn’t call it ‘nothing’ if you had.”
“He’s right,” Ford rumbles from my other side.
Gabriel sits up properly, yawning and stretching before focusing on me with a serious expression. “Talk to us, petit oiseau doux.”
I bite my lip, my stomach tightening with dread. I can’t avoid this conversation forever, and it’s important that they know what happened, as much as I don’t want to tell them.
I describe the encounter with Liam, trying to keep my voice steady. I don’t go into too much detail about my big speech telling him off—just that I made it clear I wasn’t ever going to get back with him. That’s not the important part. What matters is what he knows now.
“He thought I was cheating on Ford with you two,” I explain, my stomach churning. “And I told him that I wasn’t—but I had meant to maybe convince him that he misunderstood anything he saw. I don’t think that’s going to be possible, though.”
“Jesus. The little shit probably watched the whole fucking time,” Hayden grunts. “Like the disrespectful pervert he is.”
“I’m so sorry he knows about us. I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve known that he’d be up to something.” I look at Ford, who looks furious, which isn’t surprising. I knew that all three of them would be angry about this development.
But then Ford says, “He cheated on you?”
My brain freezes, and I replay everything I just said. “Yes,” I say, my voice rising in confusion.
“You never told us that.” Gabriel’s voice is low, and something dangerous flickers in his eyes.
I feel a jolt of realization—it’s true. I never explicitly told them about the cheating.
“When I first started working for you, when you offered me the job,” I tell Ford, feeling embarrassed, “I didn’t know how close you and Liam were. I didn’t want to turn you against him or badmouth him to his own brother. And I wasn’t even sure—if you two were close—whether you would believe me.”
Ford nods slowly, his jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscles spasming. “He should never have treated you like that.”
“Honestly, it was kind of a good thing in the end. I even told him that last night. It was like it broke the spell. It made me realize how awful he was and that I deserved to leave him.”
“That doesn’t mean he gets a pass,” Ford says grimly, getting up and out of bed with sudden purpose, grabbing clothes from the floor. “That fucking brat has gone on for far too long without experiencing any real consequences.”
My stomach churns with new anxiety. “Ford?” I ask, my voice smaller than I’d like.
